Review of Frost/Nixon (2008) by Stevenf — 07 Nov 2013

This is a study of character and realisation, Frost/Nixon aims to delve into the interviews that took place between the former President Richard Nixon and British “talk show host” David Frost, it doesn’t delve into political motives or side-tracking corruption,only the men who sat in two chairs for a series of interviews, Frost, a choice that surprised many, was a man living a flamboyant life while also having television shows in Australia that were not anything close to the journalistic prowess that the public were expecting to take on the guilty President, yet the film outlines in dramatised form, how much of the process of these interviews and payments came largely from Frost’s own pocket.

The film kicks off with snippets of news programs all those years ago as the Watergate scandal was revealed, but also how there was evidence of a cover-up by the President of the United States. The film is a close tailing of Frost as he decides to be the first person to interview the disgraced former President, he has no TV channels behind him or any concrete advertising, but all this acts as part of the mindset that this young presenter is in, he is in it really to rejuvenate his career and for it to mean something again, but his team of researchers, and of course, the nation, want him to press the President for a confession of his involvement in a cover-up, a point at the beginning of the interview process that Frost bites off a little more than he can chew, seemingly unprepared for the onslaught of anecdotes and stonewalling he received from Nixon.

Michael Sheen takes on the role of Frost, a role he also played in the stage version of the show, while Nixon is played by Frank Langella, who also appeared in the same stage production. These two actors deliver fine performances, Sheen takes the stance in his character that he has nothing to lose with these interviews, yet when he is getting nowhere with his attempts at picking apart Nixon, he soon sees how it could all come crashing down, Langella perfectly incorporates the mannerisms and speech of Nixon, whose booming voice was one of his memorable qualities, but Langella also shows a man with regret and loneliness in his eyes, at some points even seeming like he wanted to confess, but remember, this is dramatised, because we don’t really know the type of relationship these two had other than in front of the cameras, but a certain scene which didn’t happen was added in, perhaps for the dramatic effect, where a drunken Nixon contacts Frost in the dead of night and discusses many character defects in vague detail, and although this event never actually happened, its pivotal for how the final interview plays out, and how Frost manages to have Nixon accept his guilt.

In many ways the film certainly attempts to capture the essence of what went on during those interview days, but it also tries to make its own mark for the performances alone, which are the benchmark of the film, once these two sit face to face, thats when the magic occurs.